Publication Date:
2015-10-17
Description:
The Griffiths singularity in a phase transition, caused by disorder effects, was predicted more than 40 years ago. Its signature, the divergence of the dynamical critical exponent, is challenging to observe experimentally. We report the experimental observation of the quantum Griffiths singularity in a two-dimensional superconducting system. We measured the transport properties of atomically thin gallium films and found that the films undergo superconductor-metal transitions with increasing magnetic field. Approaching the zero-temperature quantum critical point, we observed divergence of the dynamical critical exponent, which is consistent with the Griffiths singularity behavior. We interpret the observed superconductor-metal quantum phase transition as the infinite-randomness critical point, where the properties of the system are controlled by rare large superconducting regions.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Xing, Ying -- Zhang, Hui-Min -- Fu, Hai-Long -- Liu, Haiwen -- Sun, Yi -- Peng, Jun-Ping -- Wang, Fa -- Lin, Xi -- Ma, Xu-Cun -- Xue, Qi-Kun -- Wang, Jian -- Xie, X C -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Oct 30;350(6260):542-5. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa7154. Epub 2015 Oct 15.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. ; Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China. ; International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing, China. ; International Center for Quantum Materials, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing, China. jianwangphysics@pku.edu.cn xucunma@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn xilin@pku.edu.cn. ; Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China. State Key Laboratory of Low-Dimensional Quantum Physics, Department of Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing, China. jianwangphysics@pku.edu.cn xucunma@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn xilin@pku.edu.cn. ; State Key Laboratory of Low-Dimensional Quantum Physics, Department of Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing, China.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26472763" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
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Chemistry and Pharmacology
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Computer Science
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Medicine
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Natural Sciences in General
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Physics
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